HONG KONG: Asian shares were mixed on Thursday as fears about Europe’s debt crisis deepened after Germany, considered the pillar of the eurozone, failed to sell all its bonds in an auction.
While some markets managed to eke out small gains thanks to bargain-buying, the ongoing woes in Europe as well as the slowing global economy pushed investors to the sidelines.Tokyo fell 1.38 percent by the break as it played catch-up with regional losses on Wednesday, when it was closed for a public holiday.

Hong Kong lost 0.44 percent and Shanghai gave up 0.68 percent. But Seoul rose 0.22 percent and Sydney was 0.41 percent higher.

A German government bond auction Wednesday drew some of the weakest demand since the introduction of the euro, signalling diminishing investor appetite even for the safest eurozone assets.

Berlin only managed to draw bids of 3.9 billion euros for its six billion euro 10-year bond auction, indicating that investors are now sceptical about even the safest assets in the eurozone.

The failure comes days after Moody’s warned that France’s weak growth and exposure to European debt could see it lose its cherished AAA debt rating, which would send its borrowing costs soaring. (AFP)

Asian markets down on European discord

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly fell on Friday as a meeting between the eurozone’s three biggest economies highlighted their differences on finding a solution to the region’s debt crisis.

Traders remained nervous at the end of a week that saw fears over Europe deepen as the yields on Italian and Spanish bonds sat dangerously high and even Germany — the bloc’s pillar — failed to sell all its bonds at auction.

Tokyo was flat, edging down 5.17 points to end at 8,160.01, while Sydney shed 1.48 percent, or 59.90 points, to end at 3,984.3 and Seoul closed 1.04 percent, or 18.66 points, lower at 1,776.40.

Shanghai was 0.60 percent off and Hong Kong fell 1.21 percent in the afternoon.

The leaders of Germany, France and Italy on Thursday met to discuss plans to address the two-year-old debt crisis in a bid to sooth markets, which have been hammered over fears of a collapse of the eurozone and another global downturn. (AFP)